Before the sunrise, Allen and Edwin left for the harbor carrying their satchels.

"I wonder what's the feeling of travelling by a s.h.i.+p. I can't wait!" With obvious eagerness, Edwin didn't hide an ounce of his excitement.

"You are in a public place." Allen quietly told him.

"Oh." Looking around him, Edwin saw a number of people fixing their gazes on him.

He calmed down, composed himself, and walked behind Allen with his face a bit red from embarra.s.sment.

Arriving at the pier, they saw a crowd of people around the harbor's official posting board, fussing about something.

"Excuse us, excuse us.", Edwin said as he and Allen went through the pack of people.

When they reached the front, Allen silently read what was written; while Edwin was surprised by the contents, "Trip by s.h.i.+ps are postponed for three months due to large-scale pirate attacks?"

He exclaimed, "We have to wait until summer just to get to East Gate City?"

"How will I deliver all my winter crops to East Gate City? They are going to be rotten just a month later!" A nearby man sighed in disappointment.

"My perfume business! Those d.a.m.ned pirates!", another bystander cursed out loud.

"My family is going to get worried if I won't get to return soon!"

"Can't we just take a detour around the Rising Sea?"

"What?! That's even more dangerous!"

"You probably came from other places. You can't go north, even by land because that's where they say the headquarters of the pirates are located."

"How about south?"

"Are you kidding me? I'd rather wait then, I don't want to get crushed by the boulders coming from the mountains because of frequent landslides in the Monarch Pa.s.s, and even further south is the Monarch Forest!"

"Then... we're really stuck here?"

"We can get some help from the mercenaries to travel by north."

"No thanks, the loss in my business for three months costs less than hiring greedy guild h.o.a.rders."

"But not my business!"

"Those people are surely going to take advantage of this."

Soon, Allen dragged Edwin and left the crowd, walking back to the main street of the town.

"So Allen, what are we going to do?", Edwin asked.

"We will take the road down south.", Allen replied.

"Oh, I think the way north is much better. We can easily handle those pirates.", Edwin said with slight excitement in the tone of his voice.

However, Allen shook his head and said, "It's not as simple as you think."

"Huh, why?"

"No, nothing. Let's just prepare for our travel."

...

As the sun rose, the both of them left the town riding a coach driven by a man with a s.h.a.ggy beard.

"I guesz it'z another pirate problemz?", the man asked through the small window.

Edwin: "Yeah. Wait, another?"

"Well, thiz iz already... I think- the zeventh time in just two yearz. It'z obviouz that it'z zecretly motivated. The government iz too quiet about itz.", the man laughed heartily.

Hearing the man's conclusion, Edwin looked over at Allen who only shrugged and kept reading a book about plants that he got from a small shelf below their seat.

Silence prevailed for hours until it was pa.s.s afternoon. The man asked, "The both of you are going through the Monarch Pasz?"

"Yes, there's no other way. The road to the north is more dangerous.", Edwin confirmed.

"Alright. Remember, I'll only take you near the pasz, until only there, got itz?.", the man sternly said.

Edwin looked at Allen at first, seeing that he wasn't responding, the former replied, "That's enough for us."

"Alzo, the both of you zhould be careful. I alwayz hear newz that there are frequent landslidez in the pasz. There are monsterz az long az I could remember, but I think the newz about monsterz aren't truez.", the man warned.

"Umm... thank you for the warning.", Edwin nodded.

Some time later, the coach finally stopped.

"We are near the pasz already. Thiz iz az far az I will goz.", the man said.

Allen and Edwin exited the coach and inspected their surroundings. They were on top of a small hill.

Looking straight ahead from their direction, they saw mountains taller than the Horizon Mountain with a single path going through them.

It was none other than the Monarch Pa.s.s.

Looking at one side, they spotted an endless stretch of trees, which was apparently the Monarch Forest.

"Goodbye. And thank you for that generouz pay, sirz.", the man bid farewell and even bowed to Allen. After that, he drove the coach away from the area.

"You paid another gold coin?", Edwin guessed.

"Mhm, it's a waste not to spend money.", Allen nodded in response.

Edwin: "..."

"Come on, let's go.", Allen started walking to the direction of the forest.

Edwin raised his eyebrows, "Hold on, won't we travel through the pa.s.s instead? Boulders won't really be a problem for us. And it's the fastest way too."

With their strengths combined, or just even Allen alone, falling boulders were just the same as fragile vases for them, so it was no wonder Edwin would be confused.

"There's no rush, we all have the time in the world for travelling. I just want to take a detour to the forest to do something.", Allen replied.

Edwin couldn't do a thing and followed Allen as he entered the forest. The latter took out a magnetic compa.s.s and removed its gla.s.s cover; next, he dislodged its needle and replaced it with another thicker needle; then placed back the gla.s.s cover.

He shook the compa.s.s a few times and checked it; however, he saw that it wasn't working, he returned it back in his satchel with the hat he was wearing.

Seeing Allen heading deeper into the forest, Edwin couldn't help but ask, "Allen, shouldn't we stay near the pa.s.s instead?"

However, Allen didn't reply and kept walking, forcing Ediwn to only follow behind closely.

A few hours later, the sun was about to set when they reached a stony hill devoid of trees. Allen went straight to the hill, followed the other.

As the sun finally sank down, that's where they reached the top of the hill.

"Let's set up our tents here.", Allen said; afterwards, he took out the materials of his tent from his satchel.

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Edwin also imitated him and took out the same materials from his satchel. Inwardly, he was still confused as to what they were doing in this location.

As he was about to ask Allen again, he took the thought from the end of his tongue back at his mind; in the end, he ignored the urge to ask the question.

When Edwin finished setting up his tent, Allen was already done from constructing his some time ago and also completed lighting up a small bonfire.

"Come on, let's eat in front of the fire.", Allen sat down took out his food. Edwin also took out his own food and sat by Allen.

"Mmm... steak."

Later, right after eating, the two of them entered their tents and went to sleep.

Above them was the sky full of stars, s.h.i.+ning down like fireflies. Among them was the single moon, an immutable watcher from time immemorial.

...

In the middle of the night, Edwin unconsciously opened his eyes in a narrow manner. As soon as he did so, a shadow outside his tent was right in front of his spot. The shadow then lifted up its weapon, which seemed to be a sword.

-crack-

A crack sounded out and at the same time he blinked, the shadow disappeared.

Processing everything that he saw, Edwin's eyes widened and he took out both of his dagger then rushed of his tent.

With the moon giving light, everything around the tents became discernable by eye. Along with Edwin channeling some internal energy to his eyes, his sight became clearer, though not enough to be considered as

He carefully observed the surroundings, but saw nothing suspicious.

"I think it's only a dream.", Edwin mumbled.

He recalled the shadow's weapon, and noticed that although it looked like a sword it seemed to have a different shape compared with the usual swords.

'I think I saw it before. Where did I see it? It looks like... a curved sword...', Edwin thought.

'... a curved sword?' Startled by his conclusion, he recalled Allen owned such a weapon!

Edwin hesitated about his conjecture; however, he was sure that it was a curved sword.

If it wasn't Allen, then who possessed a curved sword? The only person he knew in possession of the said weapon was Allen!

The already buried notion of Allen killing him surfaced on his mind once again, like an undead grabbing him to a grave.

"I must be a bit tired and got hallucinations, that's all.", Edwin sighed; he thought that people like him couldn't get easily tired, as he was not just an internal energy pract.i.tioner, but he was also as powerful as an adept!

In the end, he returned to his tent; nevertheless, he still couldn't sleep because he continued channelling internal energy everywhere in his body out of preparation for the worst.